2025 Migration and Organizations Conference
In 2016, hardly anyone was studying the relationship between immigrants and businesses. That puzzled Wharton management professor Exequiel “Zeke” Hernandez, who has witnessed firsthand how the movement of people across borders profoundly affects economies and societies. Born in Uruguay, he lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Argentina before coming to the United States for university, a journey that revealed to him how a nation’s prosperity is shaped by those living in it.
Hernandez wrote a proposal for some modest funding to bring together like-minded scholars, including Dan Wang, a social enterprise professor at Columbia Business School, and the first Migrations and Organizations Conference was born. Held in the smallest room in Huntsman Hall in 2018, it drew just 14 people.
But much like the number of immigrants across the globe, the conference has grown significantly. This year’s event, held in May at Columbia, attracted nearly 150 attendees from around the world – experts from across disciplines who are advancing research and understanding of what migration means to economies. The topics ranged from immigrants’ influence on entrepreneurship and innovation, to firm performance and competitive advantage, to labor market integration.
“… we can’t understand how immigration affects our economy and society without understanding that most of what immigrants do happens within organizations.”
– Exequiel Hernandez
“I’m excited that the community of people providing evidence on the interplay between immigration and companies is growing, becoming vibrant, and addressing really important questions,” Hernandez said. “These questions come up in the news literally every day. The point of the conference is to bring firms and organizations to the center of the conversation, because we can’t understand how immigration affects our economy and society without understanding that most of what immigrants do happens within organizations.”
The annual conference inspired a special “Migration and Organization” edition of the journal Organization Science, which was published just ahead this year’s event. For the edition, Hernandez, Wang, and several colleagues wrote an article on why more scholars should study migration. Wang said the answer is found in two sentences from the piece:
- “Organizations are the primary entity that harnesses the myriad resources created by human mobility.”
- “Organizations are central to the immigrant experience, and immigrants are central to the organizational experience.”
“Organizations are central to the immigrant experience, and immigrants are central to the organizational experience.”
– The special “Migration and Organization” edition of the journal Organization Science
Wang said the journal’s special edition felt like “the cherry on top” of years of working to push the topic to the forefront.
“To me, that cemented this area as a possible field that young scholars can consider,” he said, adding that he’s finding more business students are choosing migration and organizations as a specific research interest.
“You would never see that five years ago. Now, increasingly, we have Ph.D. students saying they are going to study immigration. I didn’t think it was a thing. and it now has become a thing,” said Wang, who is also co-director of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change at Columbia.
Like Hernandez, Wang has also lived the experience of immigration. Born in China, he came to the U.S. in 1989 with his parents, who were pursuing their doctorate degrees. Wang became an American citizen in 2022.
Nearly a decade has passed since he started working with Hernandez on migration and organizations, and the time has made him think about how much – and how little – has changed. Immigrants who were vulnerable in 2016 are just as vulnerable today as they face even stronger political and ideological headwinds. Despite the obstacles, there is no denying the important role they continue to play in business and society, he said.
Building a Research Community
The two-day conference was packed with panels and research presentations, and it culminated with a symposium designed especially for doctoral students. About 20 students were invited to share their dissertation ideas and elicit feedback from the professors and practitioners in attendance.
“A key word for us is community,” Hernandez said. “It’s always been a really important objective. It means providing a gathering place, connecting, and mentoring. If you’re a young Ph.D. student and trying to find your place in the field, you need role models.”
Wang said building a community is also why the conference is open to practitioners and policymakers, and why so many of the papers presented are qualitative – not just quantitative.
The 2026 conference will return to Wharton’s campus. Cosponsored by the Wharton Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative and the Columbia’s Tamer Institute, it will be held May 26 and 27.
In addition to Hernandez and Wang, the organizing team includes Prithwiraj Choudhury, organizational behavior professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Elena Kulchina, strategic management professor at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management. Three more colleagues joined the team this year: Astrid Marinoni, strategy and innovation professor at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business; Caroline Fry, management and industrial relations professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Shidler College of Business; and Wharton management professor Britta Glennon.
Hernandez and Wang are proud to anchor the conference, but they said it’s never been about them. Their ultimate goal is for it to gain momentum and live on well past their own careers. When the time comes, they will pass the torch to a new generation of scholars.
“Long after I’m gone, there will be a 75th edition,” Hernandez said. “In the long run, we hope this isn’t just an academic thing, and that it has a profound influence on practice and policy. Business leaders need to be more involved, and politicians need to involve business leaders much more directly. The more evidence we provide and get the message out, the more obvious it becomes that you can’t separate business issues from policy.”
By Angie Basiouny